ADVOH digital transformative student support for Unisa Western Cape students

Dr Denzil Chetty

The Academic Development Open Virtual Hub (ADOVH) recently visited the Unisa Western Cape Region to host a series of seminars and workshops on digital technologies and their integration into institutional and regional support offerings. The visiting ADOVH team consisted of a multidisciplinary team of educational technologists and professional staff, with Dr Denzil Chetty as the Project Leader and Drs Salosh Govender and Chantel Weber as Project Researchers.

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting implementation of lockdown measures have led to the emergence of versatile study environments whilst democratising access to information through digital and online platforms. With key emphases on e-inclusion, digital skills, and capacity development, the Western Cape students and staff gathered to explore the growing need for digital capacity skills enhancement in open and distance learning.

Staff and stakeholder capacitation took place from 7 to 8 July, complemented by online training on the Microsoft Power BI data visualisation tool and staff conversations. The training sessions formed part of interactive practical activities hosted by the ADOVH team. They provided regional extended management and data stewards the opportunity to gain quantitative and visual insights into areas of digital transformative decision-making regarding student support.

Student sessions followed across the Western Cape, including the Cape Peninsula, the Garden Route and Klein Karoo. These sessions included seminars and interactive learning sessions on institutional MOOC sites to show learners how the integration of AI works and the importance of virtually adjoining considerations linked to academic integrity and online proctoring tools.

After the staff and student digital learning capacitation sessions, the students were given the opportunity for conversations, and they provided excellent feedback on the Western Cape regional support services and their responsiveness to student learning. In addition to the MOOC site and the courses students can access to enhance their graduate attributes, areas of access, media, and learning opportunities were also unpacked. A total of 181 attendees attended five different sessions during the scheduled five-day capacitation sessions.

Unisa Western Cape Region and ADVOH team at the digital technologies event in Cape Town

Adéle Blacker, the Unisa Regional Academic Coordinator based at the Unisa George campus, welcomed the opportunity for students in remote areas to be part of discussions on the new digital shift of Unisa regarding online teaching and learning. “Bringing such a fantastic and knowledgeable team to our communities has shared value in how students can use and recognise the importance of digital technologies in a comprehensive and combined learning context”, she said.

In response to the regional participation and the influence that digital transformation might bring to the broader regional CODeL landscape, Chetty acknowledged and applauded the Western Cape for their eagerness to collectively embrace the benefits of digital technologies in e-learning, and their institutional commitment to use digital avenues regarding student support.  

Michelle-Heidi Frauendorf, the Acting Regional Director of the Western Cape Region, posited that ongoing collaboration with the ADOVH team is imperative to leverage the positive impact of technology in comprehensive open distance e-learning and to respond to the institutional demands in training future professionals.

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*By Jacques du Toit, Regional Academic Coordinator: Western Cape Region